Earring construction



y 25, 1950 c. SILVERMAN 2,516,652

EARRING CONSTRUCTION Filed April 12, 1944 f -i a NVENTOR m ATTORNEY Patented July 25, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,516,652 4 EARRING CONSTRUCTION Charles Silverman, Providence, R. I.

Application April 12, 1944, Serial No. 530,654

i i 4 Claims. 1- 7 The present invention relates to the jewelry art, and has particular reference to earring constructions.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a novel earring clamp which effectively holds the earring on the ear lobe without excessive pressure.

Another object of the invention is to utilize an ear lobe contact element which adjusts itself tothe ear lobe. Still another object is to provide a simple pivot construction for the clamp parts which interposes an effective resistance to opening movement of the clamp.

A further object is to provide a manually engageable clamp part for facilitating opening and closing of the clamp.

An additional object isto provide an improved construction for an earring clamp which utilizes stamped out and easily assembled parts.

With the above and other objects andadvantageous features in view, the invention consists of anovel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claims appended thereto. 1

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the novel earring clamp;

Fig 2 is a side view thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation of the clamp base;

Fig. 4 is a section of the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged side view of the clamp lever;

Fig. 6 is a front view of the clamp lever of Fig.

Fig. '7 is a front enlarged view of the ear lobe contact disk;

Fig. 8 is a section of the line 8-8 of Fig. 7; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a modified clamp lever construction.

It has been found desirable to provide an earring clamp which efieotively holds the earring on an ear lobe without excessive pressure, which is readily mounted on and removed from the ear, and which has a contact disk which adjusts itself comfortably to and firmly engages the ear lobe. To this end, I have devised a novel earring clamp comprising a base which is secured to the ornament part of the earring, a clamp lever which is pivotally mounted in the base with the pivot engaging parts shaped to provide an enlarged annular engaging area, and a contact disk which is mounted on the lever with. a limited universal connection so a to permit the contact disk to adjust itself comfortably to'the ear lobe.

Referring to the drawings, the assembled earring it) includes an ornament ll of any desired shape and form and made of an'ylsuitable material, and a clamp assembly [2, the assembly comprising a base l3 which is secured, tothe back. of the ornament I I, as by soldering, a lever I4 which is pivotally mounted in the base, I 3, and a contact disk l5 which is mounted on the lever 14 and ha limited universal movement relative theret0..,

The base 13, see Figs. 3 and 4, is preferably made of stamped metal, and includes a lower portlon 16 which is preferably large enough to ,be readily soldered to the back of the earring ornament, and two upstanding arms I! which have pivot ends l8 of semi-spherical form, as illustrated, and are dished to receive the lower end I!) of the lever M, a rivet of standard type looking the parts together. The dished ends l8 exert a resilient pressureon thelower end of the lever and provide spaced annular bearing surfaces '20 of relatively large size, thus providing a compen sation for any uneven or excessive riveting pressure and preventing freezing of the ends over the lower end IQ of thelever. If desired, the lower end I9 of the lever may have its sides tapered to be slightly thickened at its ornament edge as indicated at 2| to permit a slight binding action when the clamp is in ear lobe gripping position, the annular bearing surfaces being tapered slightly as disclosed in Fig. 4 to permit an increased friction grip when the lever is in upright position.

The lever H, see Figs. 5 and 6, is of stamped metal, curved as illustrated, with a slightly enlarged upper end 22 which provides a manually engageable part for opening the clamp, an intermediate lateral enlargement 23 which i pierced or cut out to provide two pivot fingers 24 extending towards and aligned with each other, and a lower enlargement 25 which serves as an abutment for facilitating manual pressure to close the clamp parts to gripping position.

The ear lobe contact disk 15, see Figs. '7 and 8, is also preferably made of stamped metal, although it may be made of other suitable material, and is in the form of an enlarged oval provided with an upstanding rim 26 which is rounded, the disk having a rearwardly extending curved bar 21 struck from the main body of the disk and forming a loop into which the pivot fingers 24 of then being bent to aligned position within the bar 27. This mounting provides a limited universal movement which permits the contact disk to snugly adjust itself to the ear lobe with a substantial engaging area, the ear lobe being pressed into and within the upstanding rim to obtain a comfortable and very efiective look.

When attaching the earring to the ear lobe the lever M is first moved outwardly to permit the earring to he slipped. over the ear lobe, the ornament being-on; the outside and the clamp on the inside. The clamp lever is now pressed inwardly to engage the contact disk with the ear lobe, the adjusting movement of the disk and its substantial contact area providing a comfortable but firm lock. To remove the earring, the upper end of the clamp lever is moved outwardly by the finger to swing the lever and its contact disk away from the ear lobe.

If desired, the clamp lever may be formed as s illustrated at 28 in Fig.9, with pierced lower end 29, twisted with respect to an arched shank 30, and bent over at theupper end to form a finger engageableend 3i and to provide spaced curved downwardly extending portions 32 having aligned .fingers' 33 which correspond to the fingers 24. This construction is simpler to manufacture.

While I have described specific constructional embodiments of the invention, any desired changes in the size, the shape, and the material of the parts, and in their relative arrangement, may be made to suit different earring designs, within the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

"I claim:

1. A clamp for an earring ornament, comprising .a base adapted to be secured to-the back of the ornament, a lever pivotally mounted in said base, said lever having an enlargement provided with spaced pivot fingers extending towards each other, and an 'ear lobe contact disk ,pivotally mounted on said spaced pivot fingers.

2. A clamp for an earring ornament, comprising a base adapted to be secured to the back of the ornament, said base having spaced dished bearing ends, a'leverpivotally mounted between said dished bearing ends, said lever having an enlargement provided with spaced pivot fingers extending towards each other, and an ear lobe contact disk, said disk being oval and having a rounded upstanding rim and a central bar pivotally engaging the spaced pivot fingers of said lever.

3. A clamp for an earring ornament, comprising a clamp lever base adapted to be secured to the back of an ornament, a clamp lever having its lower endpivotally secured to said base, said lever having a contact disk support intermediate its ends including two pivot fingers extending towards each other in spaced alignment, and a contact disk having a rearwardly extending curved bar forming a loop pivotally mounted on said spaced aligned pivot fingers.

4. A clamp for an earring ornament, comprising a clamp lever base adapted to be secured to theback of an ornament, said base having spaced bearing ends having slightly tapered gripping surfaces with their lower portions closer together, a clamp lever having a disk at its lower end rotatably mounted between said gripping surfaces, said disk having inclined surfaces and being thicker at the lower portion thereof, and

an ear lobe contact disk pivotally mounted on said clamp lever.

CHARLES SILV'ERMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fileof this patent:

-['INI'IEPII) STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 20,183 Lancelott May-4, 1858 943,185 Girdany Dec. 14, 1909 1,728,266 Fassnacht May 25, 1928 2,170,073 Hess Aug. 22, 1939 2,303,267 Goodwin Nov. 24, 1942 2,313,668 Placco Mar. 9,1943 2,383,237 Buick Aug. 21, 1945 2,416,583 Martin Feb. 25,1947 2,423,905 Schuler July 15, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 6,012 Germany 'Jan.'l7, 1879 

